The Lost Chronarch
by AdventureAddict
Summary: Ed and Al had always been inseparable. But now Al is showing signs of a huge secret he's been keeping for years that could tear them apart. Now Ed doesn't know what's real and what's not. Maybe they need a therapist. Or maybe they need a Doctor.
1. The Whispers of Memory

_**Hey, everybody, a super psyched AdventureAddict here yet again with another story. And for once, ONCE, I'm writing characters from other fantoms, yay! Just not in this chapter. **_

_**And I like Tennant. My like of Tennant and like of Ed is what made this thing happen in the first place. So no Eccleston or Smith here. (Unless I learn what Smith is like, since I have yet to watch season 5…)**_

_**Anyway, enough babbling. I don't own Ed or the Doctor, but I am holding them for ransom. If anyone is willing to pay as high of a price as I demand. ;) Hey, it's my story, so I can make whatever I like happen, right? **_

Chapter One - The Whispers of Memory

One could say that it all started with a telephone call. A simple, innocent little thing, really. At least, most of the time, they can be. But when Ed picked up the phone that Tuesday morning—because it just had to be a Tuesday; no one likes starting things on a Monday, after all—it was a phone call that was a million light years away from normal.

"Hello?" he said, crossed somewhere between somewhat bored and somewhat annoyed. He didn't like being dragged away from an alchemy book when he was in the middle of a chapter. Even though he was bored because he could have written the book in his sleep, but he still didn't like leaving a thought hanging, even a dull one.

"Time lord," a strangely echoey voice said on the other end. Ed held the phone slightly away from him in order to frown at it properly. Was this some sort of weird prank Al or Winry had cooked up? It _did_ sound as if the person was speaking through a voice transformer.

"Ha ha," Ed said with a roll of his eyes. "Nice. You know, next time you decide to pull a prank on me, whoever you are, make sure to have it at least make some sort of sense. It's usually a whole lot funnier that way."

"We are coming for the time lord," the weird voice continued, not seeming to care about Ed's argument. Ed made a face at the phone.

"Why are you going on about some time whatsit?" Ed said with a sigh. "This has got to be the stupidest prank I've ever had pulled on me. Just give it up."

"The time lord is ours," the voice pressed. Obviously either dumb or absorbed in their own world. And still dumb even if it was that, because they were pulling a dumb prank to begin with.

"Fine, sure. Yours," Ed said with another eye roll. He jerked slightly at the sound of a click before the phone started beeping at him and saying that it had no connection. Ed frowned down at the receiver in his hand.

"The hell…?"

"Who was that, Brother?" Al said as he came out from he bedroom, a book clenched in his hand. Ed sighed. Great. So Al wasn't having his reading disturbed for stupid prank callers, but Ed had to deal with them. Ed decided to pin more of his suspicion on the origin of the prank on Al.

"I have no idea," Ed said as he went back to the sofa and his book. "Some dumbass saying that some time whatsit was his and how he's going to come out for a visit or something. Weirdo."

Ed was jerked out of his reading—yet again—by thump of Al's own book hitting the floor. Ed looked up with a frown. Surprisingly enough, Al actually looked worried from hearing about the stupid call. Either he wasn't a part of the prank and he was actually _falling_ for it, or Al was a really good actor. Which was doubtful, considering how badly Al lied.

"Al, don't worry about it, it was just some stupid call. Probably just Mustang or one of his goons trying to—"

"What did they sound like?" Al asked, cutting Ed off. Ed shrugged confusedly. Why the hell did Al care? It was just a stupid prank, after all. Not even a _good_ prank.

"No idea. It sounded like they were putting it all through a voice transformer or something."

That seemed to get Al even more upset than hearing about the call in the first place. Ed was just about to open his mouth and ask Al about what was going on when Al decided to ask him his own question first instead.

"Brother, where's your pocket watch?"

"Uh…" Ed quirked an eyebrow. "On my dresser in my room. Why?"

Before Al even got to hear that Ed wanted to know why Al suddenly had a fascination with his pocket watch, Al had dashed off to Ed's room. Probably to grab the stupid thing, though Ed had no idea why. Ed shut his book and set it on the sofa beside him. There was no way he was going to be able to come anywhere near finishing the chapter until he found out what was wrong with Al.

Al came back out with the small circle of metal clutched tightly in his hand. He shoved the watch at Ed.

"Brother, I…" Al paused with a sigh. "There's a lot going on, and I don't think I'll have time to explain it all by myself, and… Just open your pocket watch. I've tried to put this off as long as I could, but we've been hiding for four years now, and they're starting to catch on, and… Well, I can't take care of things all by myself anymore, so… Please open the watch. I need you."

Ed shook his head with a chuckle and took the watch from Al. He had no idea why him opening his pocket watch was so important. Maybe Al really was in on the prank. Maybe he had learned how to actually act.

"Al, you know as well as I do that this watch is sealed tight."

"You can open it. You _need_ to open it. If Winry could open it that one time, then you can open it now."

Ed frowned. "What's so important about it, anyway? What do you think is in this watch that will help so much? Not to mention, what needs help in the first place? I get some beyond stupid prank call, and you start acting all weird on me. What's going on, Al?"

"Uh…" Al hesitated, fidgeting with his hands. "Just… trust me."

"Al, tell me _something_," Ed said, shaking the watch at his younger brother for emphasis. Al flinched. He hated it when he had to hide secrets from anyone he cared about, and Ed knew it. All Ed had to do was press him a little and Al would start telling him all about whatever it was that was going on.

"Al. What's in the watch?"

"Um… your memories."

"Uh, right," Ed said with a roll of his eyes. "Al, come on. I can remember everything about my past, no black spots or anything. Not to mention that the idea that a _pocket watch_ could even hold something intangible like memories is ridiculous."

"Brother, would you please just open it?" Al said with an exasperated sigh. "I don't know how long we have to dally."

Ed shot Al a dirty look, then huffed and crossed his arms. "I don't think I want to do anything until you tell me just what the hell is going on."

"Brother, _please_!"

Ed kept silent, while Al stared at him for a desperate moment. Ed could tell that Al was silently begging him to just open the freaking watch, but he wasn't going to, oh no. He wasn't just going to let his younger brother push him around without telling him anything. If that stupid prank call signified that something bad was going to happen, then Ed wanted to know what the hell was going on, dammit!

After a minute, Al let out an aggravated huff, stood up and then crossed his arms. Ed huffed back. Okay, so an upset Al wasn't necessarily the best thing in the world to have around, but at least it meant he was making some sort of progress. Which was probably a good sign.

"Okay, fine. Have it your way," Al said with a wave of his hand. "You're not going to take it as well this way, but fine. Be a stubborn mule about it. Things would be so much easier if you would just open the freaking watch, but let's try doing it this way instead."

"Al," Ed said with an irritated huff of a sigh. "Would you stop talking in circles and just tell me something already?"

"Oh, you want to be told something?" Al snapped at him. "Okay, fine. Guess what? I'm not actually your brother!"

The infamous watch slipped from Ed's fingers and fell to the floor with a soft "click." Ed stared at his brother with a dumfounded expression. He didn't want to believe—no, he simply could _not_ believe—that Al wasn't his brother. The two had spent all their lives together. They were inseparable, everyone said so. They did _everything_ together. Hell, they even looked like they were related, at least, back when Al had had a flesh body. Sure, not identical or anything, but one could see the similarities between the two.

However, Al either didn't notice or didn't care about Ed's sudden state of shock. He had been provoked into a pissy mood, and once Al got into a pissy mood, it was very hard to get him back out of it.

"We're not half brothers either, before you try making that argument, and we're not even adoptive brothers," Al said as he waved his arms around frantically. "And if you want to keep going, we're not even the same _species_, okay?"

Ed quirked an eyebrow at that statement. He was starting to believe Al's ridiculous claim a little bit less. Because seriously, not the same species? Yeah, right. And besides, no one would be able to look at the Elric boys and believe that they weren't related. They even had similar habits.

"I have never had the pudgy cheeked, tan haired body that you insist you took away from me," Al continued, with quite a good deal of zest, Ed noted. Something had been bottled up in the guy, that was for sure.

"Sorry to burst your little 'Oh, I'm such a horrible body robbing big brother' pity bubble," Al babbled. Ed stared at him with one eyebrow raised. "I didn't have a body to begin with. You spend all your time moping over how I don't have a body, and all I can do is just sit and watch and not do anything because you're an idiotic, useless human!"

"What?" Ed blinked.

"Agh!" Al threw his hands up in the air, shook his head, and then turned back to Ed.

"Just open the watch, please," Al begged. "I can't explain this well on my own. If you open the watch, it will all come back to you."

"What the hell is supposed to come back?" Ed said with a frown.

"Memories," Al said with a sigh. "Real ones, not the made up stuff."

"Made up stuff?"

Al groaned. "See? There's no way I can explain this to you! It's way, way too much to try and make you understand in one sitting. Just open the watch, Brother, please. You could die if you don't, and I really don't want to see that happen just because of your stupid stubbornness, which I really wish was just a result of you turning human."

"Turning human?" Ed said as he stood up to look Al in the eye as best he could. "Al, what the hell is going on with you? I've always been human! I've always been your brother, and I always will be! You're just as normal and human as I am, and I'm sorry…" Ed paused and looked away.

"I know it's hard for you to be stuck in a body like that," Ed continued in a softer voice. "And I could understand why you would want to concoct some story to make it so that you were… some alien or whatever that had never had a body, but… I swear Al, I'm going to make things right again."

"Stop having your freaking pity party already!" Al groaned and clenched a fist to stop himself from slapping Ed. "Brother, haven't you ever wondered just _why_ we couldn't get any closer to finding a way to getting our bodies back, no matter what we tried? It's because there's nothing to go back to in the first place!"

"Al, stop it, this is stupid!" Ed said with a heavy sigh.

"No, you stop it, you freaking idiot!" Al snapped back. "You're one of the last ones of your species! You've got a time lord trying to track you down and all sorts of other races out there trying to get rid of you too! And you could die if you don't open your watch! And I'm sure you've always wanted to die as a sniveling little brat."

"I'm not a brat!"

"You look like one to me," Al said as he put his hands on his hips. "Open your watch and prove that you're not some immature little brat if you're so sure!"

Ed felt his pulse throb. Al was really absorbed in the story he had concocted. He was willing to fight Ed to the death over this stupid story.

"What, do you think I'm stupid or something?" Al snapped. "Just open your pocket watch! If you're so sure that this is stupid, then open the watch and prove it!"

"I didn't say that you were stupid!"

"Oh, but you were thinking it."

"You don't know what I was thinking!"

"Oh, you'd be surprised."

Ed pouted and looked away from Al with a grumble. Al sighed, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Would you just open the watch already?" he snapped. Ed spun his head around to glare at Al.

"Why?" he snapped back. "What makes you so sure that everyone is after me, anyway?"

"Because you're important! They realize that you could change history, and they don't like it!"

"So… everyone is after… me?" Ed said slowly, as if he were indulging a child. Al nodded, and Ed made a face. "Al… don't you think that might be a bit… paranoid?"

Al groaned and threw his arms up in the air. "Sometimes there's a real reason to be paranoid!"

"But…" Ed frowned. "Al, you're saying that not only everyone in general is out to get me, but everyone in the entire universe wants _my_ head on a platter?"

"Well, not everyone," Al said with a sigh. "But all the races that are out to destroy and conquer everything they can… yeah, they would like nothing more than for you to be dead."

Ed nodded in stunned horror while Al paused to collect his thoughts for a minute. Gibberish. His younger brother was spouting off absolute and total gibberish. Maybe he had to consider locking Al up in a mental hospital for a while. He hated the thought of it, but with the way Al was acting…

Al huffed, irritated by something. Ed frowned. It wasn't as if he had said anything about locking Al away. Maybe Al was getting mad at his own personal thoughts instead.

"It just… Doesn't make very much sense," Ed said slowly. "I mean… Winry's our best friend. And I remember years of being here. I don't remember anything about aliens or space or all of that stuff."

Al sighed and rolled his shoulders in an almost-shrug.

"It's hard to explain," he said with a sigh. "I really wish you would just open your watch."

A moment passed of Al watching Ed expectantly, and Ed not making any motion to grab the watch. Eventually, Ed sighed and said, "I… I don't understand."

Al threw his hands up in the air with an exasperated sigh. "Of course you don't! I don't think anyone would understand any of this if it was just thrown at them! That's why you really, really need to open that watch!"

"Al…" Ed placed a hand on Al, and then pulled it away as quickly as he put it there. "I… I want to understand, I just…"

"You do not. You don't want to understand any of this," Al said, shrinking back from Ed slightly. "You just want me to say it was all a story I made up, forget about all of it and go back to being a normal human like always."

"I'm not nor—" Ed sighed and cutting himself off and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just tell me what's wrong, Al. I want to hear it. Really."

Al sighed and crossed his arms, considering Ed for a minute.

"All your enemies are coming back, and we're going to have to fight them off," Al said with a sigh after he thought for a while. "Or… or… _something_, and I can't do it alone, I just really need help. And once you open that watch, you can… help me again, so, _please_, just trust me."

The two went silent for a while as Ed tried to figure out what Al was even trying to say. Had he not been getting enough attention or something lately? Was he concocting ridiculous stories just so Ed would pay attention to him?

Ed was jerked out of his thoughts by a loud sort of whooshing sound he had never heard before. Al took in a sharp breath and flew to the window.

"That would be the Doctor," he said breathlessly as he peeked through the curtains. "I can't see his TARDIS from here, but that was definitely the sound of one landing."

"A… what?" Ed said with a frown.

"TARDIS," Al said as he looked over his shoulder at Ed. "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. T-A-R-D-I-S." Ed still looked just as confused by Al's explanation, if not even _more_ confused, so Al sighed and tried again.

"A time machine crossed over with a spaceship. It looks like a… blue wooden box. And this man called the Doctor travels around in it, fixing things. He's been trying to… to lock you away, basically, so we ran here to hide from him."

"Uh…" Ed thought over the words. "He travels around in a spaceship…"

Al nodded.

"…Made out of wood?"

"Well, it's not _all _made out of wood, but the outside… Yeah, sure," Al eventually settled with a sigh.

"And it's a time machine too?"

"Yes."

Ed frowned. "You do know that that's completely impossible, Al, right? Wood would burn and maybe even explode under that sort of pressure."

"Well, it's just a disguise for the real ship," Al said with a sigh. "I'm not really sure exactly how it works, but I… Eh. It just _looks_ like it's made out of wood, okay?"

Al decided not to point out that that was still under the assumption that time travel was possible. Which Ed normally wouldn't accept, but somehow, the thought of a wooden spaceship had pulled Ed away from thinking over just how impossible time travel would be.

There was another long moment of silence between the two. Ed tried his best not to show on his face just how crazy he thought Al sounded while he tried to think of some sort of plan of what to do. Maybe if he opened the watch, Al would see that there really was nothing in there and he could try and talk Al down. Then again, Al seemed pretty far gone. He might start acting like something magical had happened from opening a stupid ordinary watch, which might make him even more crazily fanatical. Ed frowned. Tough call.

He was interrupted out of his thoughts by a loud sigh from Al. He looked back up.

"I know what you're thinking."

Ed blinked in surprise. He then frowned. "Oh, yeah, what was I thinking?" Al rolled his eyes.

"I'm already crazy as it is, and then you were debating with yourself over whether or not you should open the watch when I'm acting so weird."

Ed frowned. How did Al always know what he was thinking, anyway?

What he really needed was some sort of proof. Al was convinced that he was some sort of… alien, or something. He needed something that wouldn't be able to be fudged very easily. Something that would easily show Al he was acting crazy.

"Well…" Ed made a face. "If you're some sort of alien whatever, then prove it!"

"Why?" Al said, crossing his arms.

"Cuz I won't open the watch until you do!"

"And what about if I do prove it?" Al said. "Would you open the watch?"

"Uh… yeah. Sure."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Will that actually get something through your thick human skull?"

"Uh… yeah. Right," Ed said with a grin and a nod. He didn't quite understand Al's exact word choice, but anything to get Al to realize he was being crazy. Al rolled his eyes with a shake of his head.

"Okay, fine," Al said with a heavy sigh. He then made a motion at Ed's abandoned pocket watch on the ground. Without a complaint, the watch picked itself up and flew directly into Al's hand, right in front of Ed's eyes.

It took a minute for it to sink into Ed's brain that Al had actually just moved something without touching it. Somehow, he had used his mind to summon a watch. His I'm-so-going-to-win-an-argument-for-once turned into something that was a cross between a grin and a horrified expression. He was too stunned to even bother wiping the grin off his face.

As soon as the information had fully sunk in, Ed was on his feet and out the door. Much to Al's dismay.

"You little freaking liar," Al muttered under his breath before running out the door to chase the idiot down.

_**Anyway, I've got a fair amount of this written already, have the entire plot figured out for not only this story arc, but a couple sequels as well, and this is one story I KNOW I will not be dropping out of boredom. ;) So look forward to an actual ending, everyone! Yay! Feel free to suggest things or whatever you feel like, and a new chapter will be coming in the near future.**_

_**On a side note, I'm doing something sort of fun for this story. I'm planning on making every chapter title a title based off of Doctor Who episodes from a random title generator. Kinda funny to see what comes out. ;)**_


	2. The Unearthly Machine

_**Okay, everyone, I is back with another update, and this time one with the Doctor making an appearance! Yay! Thank you all so much for the great feedback, I couldn't believe how badly you guys wanted to know what happened next, lol. So, I guess I'll stop yapping and let you find out, huh? **_

_**Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Uh, whoops, sorry, I got stuck in a time loop. What was I saying again? **_

Chapter Two - The Unearthly Machine

Ed ran down the street, sweat pouring down his face. He had no idea what was going on. Well, actually, he had _some_ idea, but it didn't make sense, and he didn't even like it anyway. It was stupid, crazy ideas. Al had lost it. Yes, that was it. Al had just spent one too many nights alone with his very creative little mind, and he had gotten sucked into crazy world. It was just a matter of sucking him back out, that was all. Yep. That was all it would take.

He was jolted very suddenly out of his thoughts by running straight into a blue box, bumping his head quite soundly in the process. He fell backwards and stared up at the strange object.

"Oh, no," he muttered as he scrambled to his feet. Al had mentioned something about a man with a blue box in all his ramblings. And if there really was this same weird blue box Al had mentioned in front of him, then maybe that meant that Al really _wasn't_ in crazy land, and that everything around Ed was turning into some sort of.. of… freakfest!

"No, no, _no_," Ed said with a shake of his head before turning and running in the exact direction he had come from, away from the freaky blue box. Maybe Al had just seen the really weird object and made up some sort of crazy story in order to explain it. Al was known to do that, wasn't he? Yeah, he seemed to do that often enough. Obviously he had done it for the strange blue box too.

Once again, he was snapped out of his thoughts by running into a very solid object in front of him. Ed looked up in horror, expecting the R.W.O. (Really Weird Object) to have followed him, some way, somehow, but, even scarier, he realized, was that it was actually Al. Who was the very thing he had been running from in the first place. Ed panicked, scrambled to his feet, and ran away as fast as he could. Again.

"Brother, wait!" Al called, but Ed didn't pay any attention to him. So little attention, in fact, that he ran into the blue box. Again. Ed nearly cursed at the the stupid thing, but that would mean acknowledging its existence. He turned around and ran again.

And ran into Al again. Stupid. Before Al could say anything, he was off again. His adrenaline was on overdrive. He had to get away from this madness.

Sadly, his adrenaline didn't think that maybe some of his power should have gone to his brain instead of his legs. So instead of maybe making a ninety degree turn like any person with a bit of a brain between their shoulders might have done, Ed instead kept running between Al and the R.W.O. like a chicken with its head cut off, until Al had him corned up against the blue… thing.

"We need to talk," Al said in a stern voice. Ed whimpered. He had always hated that voice. It usually meant that life was going to suck for the next few weeks, or possibly even months.

"What would it take for you to understand that this isn't some stupid kid's game?" Al pressed, and Ed shut his eyes. I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, la la la la la…

"Brother… Would you… Agh! You're singing in your head again, aren't you?"

"No!"

"Yes, you are! You're singing the song that gets on everybody's nerves, except it won't work on me!"

"Sure it will! It already has, see? Ha!"

"You're pulling away from the subject," Al said with a slight growl as he grabbed Ed's collar. "Annoying song or not, you still have to deal with the fact that you are _not_ human. And now that The Doctor has found us, we might as well give in and try explaining to him rather than having him keep chasing us through time and space."

Ed shook his head. "You are _so_ off the deep end, Al! Time and space! The Doctor! Aliens! Time… whatsits!"

"Lords. Time lords."

"Time bullshit!"

Al groaned and shook his head. "Brother, like it or not, it _is_ your past. And, like it or not, it finally _has_ caught up with you!"

Ed shook his head and glanced over his shoulder at the blue R.W.O. Of all the things, he certainly didn't want that foreign… _thing_ to be looming in the background behind him. Al sighed and shook his head.

"Look, I think we should just try explaining ourselves to the guy. I've heard that he's actually pretty… lenient, I suppose would be the best word."

"Pfft," Ed snorted. "If he's so understanding, then why are we supposedly running from him? And how would I be able to explain myself when I don't have any memories?"

"Well, I was hoping you would at least consider opening your pocket watch," Al said. He got a glare for a response. "Or… not. Look, I can explain things to him if you're scared—"

"I'm not scared!"

"Whatever. I'm just tired of running from this, Brother. Go hide in the bushes or something if you don't want to talk to him that badly."

And with that, Al reached around Ed's head and knocked smartly on the blue wood. Ed winced and closed his eyes. Great. Now the Really Weird Man he had heard so much about was going to come out of the Really Weird Object.

This really was not his day.

So he and Al were stuck staring at each other for one long, painfully silent moment while they listened for any sort of response from the R.W.M. inside the R.W.O. After hearing nothing, Ed sighed and started to walk away, but Al grabbed his collar to stop him.

"Aw, come on, Al, he's obviously not in there, let's just go and—"

Al reached out and knocked on the wood again. "Doctor? Doctor, if you're in there, I really need to speak with you."

"Al, stop it," Ed hissed as he jerked out of Al's grip. "He's not—"

Ed was interrupted by the creak of a wooden door. His breathing sped up slightly, and he turned to look and see just what new horror he would have to deal with now.

He looked like a pretty normal man wearing pretty normal clothes. Brown suit, brown tie, brown coat, brown glasses, brown messy hair… somewhat weird looking and out of place white shoes, but hey, the rest of him seemed normal enough to let those be overlooked.

The only thing that unnerved Ed about the man was his cocky smirk. He looked as if he knew something Ed didn't, probably something that was either pretty funny, embarrassing, or both, and Ed didn't like the idea that this man knew… _whatever_, and he, Edward Elric, did not.

"Hallo," the man said, his smirk widening a bit. Ed frowned. Weird accent, outwardly normal man. Strange. "I'm The Doctor, nice to meet you. And just who exactly—" He paused and looked the two of them over from head to toe. Ed glared back at him. He was liking this man less and less. "—are you?"

"I'm Alphons—" Al sighed and shook his head. "I mean… I'm Alenirowuroowuuzaada of , sector Abe Iro." He then looked over at Ed, who was staring at Al as if he had grown horns.

"And this is my… friend," Al settled with a confused sigh. "We seek an audience with The Doctor under Convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."

The man pulled his glasses down his nose and looking Ed over again. Ed glared at him. He was not having a good day, and he did not like having this man add to all of it by examining him like something under a microscope.

Eventually the man settled on some sort of expression that was a cross between a frown and a pout. He then sniffed the air in the direction of Ed. After he seemed satisfied with that, he turned to Al again.

"Why are you traveling with a human?" he said, jerking a thumb towards Ed. Ed huffed and crossed his arms. "I mean… doesn't he drag you down?"

"From what I hear, you travel with a human girl by your side almost constantly," Al said with a snort. The weird man made a face and looked away from Al. "And besides, there's no way he could drag me down. He's one of the smartest humans on this entire planet. His name is Edward Elric."

"What did you do, go and turn yourself human?" His frown deepened slightly. "No wonder I've had trouble tracking you down. I thought you went and died on me, the scent died out so much."

"Edward Elric? The Fullmetal Alchemist?" The Doctor said as his frown flipped from a frown back into the smirk he had been wearing previously. "Get ooout." He looked them over as if they were two children that had made something clever to show him.

"I've heard of you!" The Doctor continued excitedly. "Youngest State Alchemist in all the history of Amestris! And all this time you were… Dragging an alien along behind you…" He paused slightly and frowned again as he shoved his hands in his pockets, obviously lost deep in thought. "Though you haven't told me how you happened to run into one another, or why Ed looks so terrified for being such a smart little human."

"I'm not scared!"

The Doctor stopped and shook his head with a wide grin. "You clever little… Right then. Convention 15. Come on."

And with that, he jerked his head towards the open door of the weird blue box. Al sighed in relief and nodded his thanks before heading inside.

Ed shot the Doctor a dirty look and followed Al, not wanting to be left alone with the weirdo for too long.

* * *

A minute later, Ed was stumbling back out the blue door with a wide eyed expression on his face. Al sighed and poked his head out.

"Brother, would you quit making a scene?" he said with a sigh. "Please. You're going to make people start paying attention to us if you have your freak out session on the outside of the ship rather than the inside."

"It's… It's…"

"Bigger on the inside than the outside, yes," The Doctor said as he leaned against the doorframe. "Alien technology, yes. Where you should be plucking you bottom down right now, yes."

"I… I… no way in hell!" Ed managed to splutter out. "This… This… Dream!"

"If it's a dream, Brother," Al said with a sigh and roll of his eyes, "Then wouldn't the smartest thing to do be to just go along with things and stop telling them they don't exist until you wake up?"

Ed frowned. He wasn't quite sure how to argue with something like that.

"Come on, Ed, don't be like this," The Doctor said, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning forward. "Child genius like you, I wouldn't doubt that you considered once that maybe, just maybe, out there somewhere was some sort of life besides the ones you knew of. But science did a good job of smashing that notion of of your head, didn't it?"

He took a few steps out of the blue box, towards Ed. Ed flinched slightly.

"Science can't have silly notions of things that far away from home. Alien life can't possibly exist, because they can't prove any of it to be real," The Doctor continued. In quite the no-nonsense tone, Ed noted silently. This guy was either telling the truth or seriously insane. And one way or another, he had suckered Al into the story. The bastard.

"So you pushed all those silly thoughts out of your head. Can't have any… _whimsical_ thoughts of other life forms when you're a scientist." The Doctor frowned slightly, pulled his rectangular glasses off, and shoved them in a pocket in his coat.

"But somewhere in that brilliant little head of yours, you kept a little spark of an idea. And now you're just starting to see that little spark of an idea turn into a fire, and it's scary." The Doctor blew out a puff of air through closed lips and shook his head. "Oooh, it's scary as hell. But deep down, part of you wants to test out the waters. You're a scientist, you have to know everything you can about everything you encounter, but you let your fear of the impossible take control of your mind."

The Doctor held out a hand. "Come on, Ed. Start imagining again."

_**So… not much to say here, I suppose. I love what the random title generator thought of this time though. Hope you guys liked the Doctor, it was my first time ever writing him. Any suggestions, feedback… well, you know what to do. ;)**_


	3. The Crossing of the Ways

**Heh, heh... Heeey, guys... -dodges flying tomato- Yeah, I know I was promising that I wouldn't drop this story, and blah blah blah, and then left you hanging for months, but I seriously have good excuses. Excuses, all the same, but anyway... Shit hit the fan, to put it lightly, then my computer got stolen, and it's taken me a while to get back on my feet since then. But I finally have, so here's the next chapter. **

**Speaking of broken promises, I actually watched season 5 and what's out of season 6. Aaaaand... I like Smith. So he AND Tennant are going to both be in here. Because it's my story and I say so. ;)**

**But Tennant still wins. **

**Dislaimer: I have bread to eat, sooo... figure it out yourself, it's obvious, right? **

Chapter Three – The Crossing of the Ways

"Turn left!"

"I _am_ turning left!"

"Well, you're not doing a very good job of it!"

"Look, for someone who's bumming a ride off of me, you could act a little less bossy and a little more grateful!"

"Well, for someone who has a name like 'the Seeker,' I would think that you'd be a better at _seeking_ out storms and then _avoiding_ them!"

"My name's the Seeker, not the Avoider!"

"Boys!" Amy interrupted by clapping her hands in front of the two. "How about a little less arguing and a little more driving?" Her point was emphasized by a bump against the ship that made them all grab for support.

"It's his fault," the Seeker nodded towards the Doctor. "He seems to think that the only way to fly a TARDIS is through turbulence, so he decided to bring some along!"

"Then how about getting us out of it?" Rory yelled, desperately clinging to two different hand holds for support. The Seeker shrugged and turned his full attention to the console.

The TARDIS continued to rock violently for a minute, then evened out, and then started rocking again. The Seeker groaned and ran a hand through his hair. The Doctor's hand reached for a lever, but got immediately slapped back.

"No touchie," the Seeker growled.

"'No touchie,' what sort of English is that?" the Doctor said, looking back to Amy and Rory for back up. Amy just shook her head disbelievingly — at the Doctor instead of the English.

"It's _my _sort of English, now back off!" the Seeker barked "Or let me put it into slang you understand: 'Oi! 'Ands off my TARDIS!'"

The Doctor frowned at the ridiculously fake British accent. "I don't sound like that," he muttered. Amy and Rory exchanged glances and sniggered, but were cut off by another bump to the TARDIS.

The Seeker decisively pulled a lever down, and the TARDIS finally stopped. Amy sank weak-kneed into a chair while the Doctor grinned and clapped his hands together.

"Right then, where are we?" he said excitedly. The Seeker tapped a few buttons and brought up the information on a screen.

"Amestris—" he started reading, then stopped, staring at the screen. The Doctor looked over his shoulder.

"Amestris, 1914!" he declared. "Oh, that was a good year! Good wine!" he started heading for the door, snapping for Amy and Rory to follow him.

"It was also the year the Fullmetal Alchemist disappeared," the Seeker said, making the Doctor stop and turn around, perplexed. "I'm not going out there," the Seeker continued. "I got you where you needed to go, now I'm leaving."

"But you can't do that, you'll miss out on all the fun!" The Doctor pouted. "And besides, what if we need a ride back?"

"You can call me again," the Seeker said. "I'll come, just like last time."

"It took you hours to respond last time!" Amy protested as she crossed her arms. Rory nodded, feeling confused and a bit left out, but definitely not wanting to wait in the snow for three hours like they had the last time they had called the Seeker.

"Well, I'll come faster this time," the Seeker said with a roll of his eyes.

"Not that it's any of my business..." Rory started, then hesitated when all eyes turned to him. "...But who exactly is 'the Fullmetal Alchemist,' and why is it so important that he disappeared in 1914?"

"An excellent point, Rory!" the Doctor said, keeping his eyes on the Seeker, but pointing a proud finger back at Rory. "The Fullmetal Alchemist was the youngest state alchemist in history, admitted into the military when he was only eleven. He, his brother, and his mechanic all disappeared in 1914. He was called 'the Hero of the People,' helping anyone he came into contact with. So, when he disappeared, the country went into an uproar, demanding he needed to be found, but not a single shred of evidence turned up. It was deemed 'the impossible case of 1914,' and was forgotten about."

"They let an eleven year old join the military?" Rory said disbelievingly.

"Just what kind of alchemist are we talking about here?" Amy said. "Like Nicolas Flamel, philosopher's stones and all that mumbo jumbo?"

"Not exactly," said the Doctor, still not taking his eyes off the Seeker, who was looking stonier by the second. "In this world, Alchemists are like the scientist in yours."

"So, what, they do experiments in some lab all day?" Amy said. "And this Fullmetal Alchemist kid was better at it than most, yeah?"

"Yeah," the Doctor responded absently, his attention still on the Seeker. "But the real question is, why does he matter so much to you?"

"Don't tell me you don't remember," the Seeker whispered. The Doctor frowned.

"Remember what?"

There was a moment of tense silence, and then the Seeker finally sighed and shook his head.

"Fine, I'll come with you," he finally conceded. "Just let me get my hat and coat." And with that, he ran off to another room of the TARDIS, presumably to get his hat and coat, leaving the Doctor, Amy and Rory to stare after him.

"Doctor—" Amy started. The Doctor seemed to finally snap out of his trance-like state, and turned back to look at her.

"I know, Amy," he said softly. "He's obviously hiding something. But I've never seen the Seeker give me any reason not to trust him. So just keep an eye out in case you notice anything... spooky," he finished with a wicked grin that Amy could not help but grin back at.

Just then, the Seeker came out of another room, shrugging on a long black coat. He then looked up at them with a grin and slapped a black fedora on his head.

"Come on, Doctor, what happed to that 'missing out on all the fun' crap you were spouting at me ten minutes ago?" he said as he walked through the middle of the group. "Let's go out there and have some fun." And with that, he walked out of the TARDIS.

"Who does he think he is, Indiana Jones?" Amy said with a perplexed face. The Doctor shrugged, not having a decent response for that. He and Amy then walked out of the TARDIS.

"They let an eleven year old join the military?" Rory said one last time before turning and leaving the TARDIS as well.

* * *

"I thought you said there were no time lords left," Amy hissed to the Doctor as they walked down the street. The Seeker was leading the way, obviously knowing his way around the place very well. It looked like grass in all directions to Amy.

"There aren't," the Doctor whined back at her.

"Oh, and if there aren't any left, then what does that make him?"

"He's... a... friend," the Doctor said lamely.

"A friend," Amy repeated, her arms crossed with one eyebrow quirked.

"Yes, a friend!"

"If he's just a friend, then why does he have a TARDIS?" she probed. "I thought only time lords had TARDISes."

The Doctor seemed stumped for a moment before hopefully trying, "He's a friend... with benefits?"

Amy sighed and threw her hands in the air. "You know, Doctor, for being over nine hundred years old, you act an awful lot like a two year old!" He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Are you jealous of the fact that I have a friend with benefits and you don't?"

Amy stared at him in disbelief. "Do you even know what you're saying?"

"Yes. Of course," the Doctor said, then paused. "Sort of. Not really. What was I saying again?"

Amy held back a laugh and shook her head. "Doctor, I don't think you want to know."

"Yes I do!"

"No, I really think you don't."

"Pond, stop trying to be my mother and tell me."

Amy bit back a laugh, then leaned forward and whispered into the Doctor's ear. His grin quickly morphed into a horrified expression.

"Noooo," he said, gaping at her. Amy nodded with a chuckle, it was too funny to hold back every laugh she had. How could someone be nine hundred years old and not know what "friends with benefits" means?

"You mean... that..." the Doctor made a face and hit two fists together. Amy nodded again. The Doctor looked even more horrified, then raced forward to the Seeker.

"Just to be clear," he said, and the Seeker looked over, obviously expecting a typically insane Doctor comment. "We're friend friends, not..." he glanced over the Seeker, scrunched up his eyebrows, and then waved his hands in the air as if to draw a woman's figure, "..._friends_."

The Seeker quirked an eyebrow, wondering what had brought that comment about, though he wasn't even sure he really wanted to know. "What, did you see something you liked? I'm afraid you'll have to regenerate as a woman before that even has a chance of happening, Doc."

"Good man," the Doctor clapped him on the shoulder. "Friend friends."

"Friend friends..." the Seeker replied with a quirked eyebrow. He paused, then grinned. "I think you get less mature the older you get."

"Oi!" the Doctor said, not sure exactly why he was offended, but still feeling offended. "I happen to look very good for my age, thank you very much."

"So he says," the Seeker laughed under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing... Hey, what's that?"

"What's—" the Doctor looked up and saw a blue box in the middle of the field. "There she is!" he said excitedly, and started running towards the box. "I knew we would find her!" The Seeker stopped and put his hands on his hips.

"Boy and his toy," he laughed with a roll of his eyes as Amy and Rory rushed past excitedly. They weren't exactly sure why the TARDIS had disappeared, but thankfully, the Doctor had revealed a way to track the ship down again so that they could get back on the road again. The theoretical time-space version of a road, anyway.

"Oh, there she is," the Doctor said with a grin, putting his hand on the side of the box and looking up fondly. "There's my girl. Safe and sound." He then pulled a key out of his pocket and fitted it into the door.

"We're going to be all righ—Hm, door's a little jammed," he said, then grunted and turned the key harder. It slid into place properly, and the Doctor grinned. "Come on, Amy, Rory," he said, and turned to walk inside, "How about we go to—" He got cut off at the sight of a man in a brown suit staring at him.

There was a tense silence as the two stared at one another. Amy then burst in behind the Doctor and took a minute to look confusedly between him and the man in the brown suit. She then turned to the Doctor.

"Doctor, who's he, and why's he in your TARDIS?" she said, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at the Doctor as if it was his fault.

"What?" the man in the brown suit said, raising an eyebrow.

"Time travel, Pond," the Doctor said as a smile began to creep across his face. He gestured to the man in the brown suit as if he were making a grand introduction. "This... handsome man is... Well, me."

"What?" the other Doctor repeated, bewildered.

"What I don't understand is why I don't remember this..." the first Doctor said, trailing off in thought.

"What?"

The first Doctor frowned. "Did I really sound like that?" He paused, waiting for an answer, but when he received none, he looked over at Amy. She shrugged.

"How should I know? And how can he be you when he looks nothing like you?"

"It's called regeneration," the Seeker interrupted, stepping in around Amy. "It's what time lords do when they get close to death."

Amy shot the doctor a dirty look. "Are you still claiming that he's not a time lord?"

"So he knows a little bit about time lords... stuff," the Doctor said with a shrug. "That doesn't make him a time lord."

The Seeker shot him a dirty look. "I'm _not_ a time lord now?"

"See?" Amy said triumphantly.

"Who's he?" the second Doctor asked.

"I'm apparently not a time lord," the Seeker said with a dirty look towards the Doctor. "And I'm not his _friend_ either, just to be clear. I'm his... friend friend."

"Hey, that's not what I said," the Doctor protested. The Seeker opened his mouth to retaliate when a huge man in a suit of armor stepped in.

"Hold on, this is getting confusing," the large man said. "Could everyone please just introduce themselves so we can be clear?"

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor and the man in the brown suit said simultaneously, then glared at one another for taking away their dramatic introduction.

"She's Pond," the Doctor said, gesturing to Amy.

"Oh, thanks, I do happen to have a first name, you know," Amy said with a roll of her eyes.

"_Amelia_ Pond," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes back at her.

"Amy," she corrected again.

"And I'm Rory," Rory interrupted awkwardly, not wanting to be left out.

The other Doctor gestured to the blond sitting in the corner. "This is the Fullmetal Alchemist and his..."

"Al," the large man supplied.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist and his Al," the other Doctor repeated, glad the confusion had been cleared.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist?" Amy repeated, sending a glance to the Doctor. He stepped on her foot.

"Ow! What was that for, you bloody—"

"The Fullmetal Alchemist? You mean the guy who disappears this year?" Rory said.

"Rory!" The Doctor groaned, spinning around to glare at him.

"What?" Ed said, suddenly standing to his feet, seemingly over his pity party. "Al, did he just say what I think he said?"

"No, Brother," Al said with a sigh.

"Yes, he did! You heard him! He said I disappear this year!"

"Well, if you weren't going to believe me, why did you ask my opinion?" Al asked with a long suffering sigh.

"What makes you think I'm going to disappear this year, huh?" Ed said, storming over to Rory. "Were you going to kidnap me or something? Were you the one who made that creepy call to my house? Huh?"

"I'm just repeating what he said," Rory said, pointing to the Seeker. He had been backed up against a wall, cowering. Despite Ed being a good foot shorter than Rory, he was still scary. Thankfully, he decided to turn his attention to the guy Rory had pointed to.

"So you planning on making me 'disappear' this year, huh? Well, I got news for you, buddy, I'm not very easy to kidnap!"

"Believe me, I know," the Seeker said with a chuckle.

"You know?" Ed squawked. "Stalker! Creep! He's been following me! He probably dug stuff out of my trash while I slept!" He then narrowed his eyes and glared at the Seeker. "You never even introduced yourself, mister. You got something to hide? Huh?"

The Seeker seemed torn between laughing and banging his head against the wall. Or strangling Ed. He settled instead for rubbing his temple. "I'm the Seeker," he said carefully.

"The Seeker? What sort of name is that?"

"The same name as the Doctor," the Seeker said with a smirk. "Not a name at all."

"See!" Ed yelped, pointing an accusatory finger to the man. "He has something to hide, I knew it! He's planning to kidnap me! Al, he—!"

But when Ed turned to try and gain Al's support, he saw that Al was staring in shock at the Seeker, shaking slightly with his fists clenched.

"The Seeker?" Al repeated blankly. The Seeker chuckled and shrugged his shoulders nervously.

"Hey, Al," he said. "Long time no see."

**Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed that, and meanwhile, I have a little message for you. I'm going to be trying something different for this story from now on. For every review I get, I'm going to donate ten cents to a charity (haven't decided exactly which one yet, I'll tell details next chap). No, this isn't to motivate you to review more (snicker, yeah, keep telling yourself that, Addict...), it's actually because it helps motivate _me_ to write more if I know that me writing is actually sort of doing something for people. Just figured I'd let you guys know that your reviews will be going to a good cause. ;)**

**BTWFYI: I'm, like, 75% done with the next chapter. So don't worry, we're not going to have another long break. **


	4. The Fear of the Seeker

**Hey, everybody, AdventureAddict here again, are you glad to see me or what? Yep, not another few months between the chapters this time, hopefully I can keep the pace up. **

**Anyway, just to clear up a little confusion, some of you were confused as to whether the Seeker came from Doctor Who or Fullmetal Alchemist. -snickers- He's actually not from either one, which I guess means I did my job well. He's supposed to be confusing, unless you're smart enough to figure out his past. Though usually people seem to not be able to predict things in stories as well I do, so I can sometimes make things really well hidden in plain sight. Anyway, hope that at least made it clear that, no, you're not supposed to recognize him, lol. Now on with the show!**

**Disclaimer: Why would I want to own a crazy redhead, her husband, two lubricious and very old doubles, an empty suit of armor, and a pipsqueak with a temper bigger than him? Nah, I'll stick with the Seeker, you guys can take the rest. **

Chapter Four – The Fear of the Seeker

"What?" Ed screeched, furiously looking between the Seeker and Al. "Al, are you in _league_ with this guy or something?"

"What do you mean, 'long time no see'?" Al said, completely ignoring his brother and instead focusing on the stranger. The Seeker blanched slightly. "'Long time no see,' is that how it is between us in the future? What'd you do, run off on your own without me?"

"Al, that's not even possible," the Seeker said as he held up his hands defensively

"Al, what's going on?" Ed shrieked, stamping his foot. Al turned back to him sharply.

"Brother, for once, please stop acting like a four year old," he sighed. "I'm sorry that this sometimes happens, but every now and then, the world stops revolving around you and decides to revolve around someone else for once. And you've got to just deal with it when it does."

The Seeker snorted, and Al turned back around to deal with him again, but before he could say anything, Amy interrupted.

"Sorry, but I'm still confused here. Who exactly is the Doctor?"

"I am," both Doctors said at once. Al, meanwhile, turned back to the Seeker, deciding that dealing with him was more important than time travelers. Amy narrowed her eyes and looked between the two Doctors.

"Riiight. And then how, exactly, are we supposed to tell you apart?"

"Well, that's easy," Rory said as he looked over the two Doctors. "One wears a bow tie, and the other wears a... tie tie."

"Yeah, another reason I'm doubting this whole 'two un-identical Doctors' things," Amy said, crossing her arms. "I doubt that the Doctor would ever wear a tie that wasn't dorky."

"Hey!" the Doctor protested, reaching protectively for his bow tie. "Bow ties are cool!"

"And besides," Amy continued. "Even if they're easy to tell apart by appearance, we need something to call each of them. We can't very well go 'Doctor!' and have both of them come running every time."

"Call him the Doctor, he was first in my timeline, he deserves the honor," the Doctor said, gesturing towards the Doctor in the suit. The one in the suit grinned and straightened his posture.

"Why, thank you, Doctor," he said, and the first Doctor started grinning back at him.

"Not a problem at all, Doctor. Might I add how good that suit looks on you. Nice choice. Well done."

"Why, thank you. And let me say in return that normally, I would think that a bow tie couldn't be pulled off very well, but when you wear it, it's very..."

"Cool," the other doctor supplemented.

"Cool," the first agreed with a grin.

"Oooookay, I'm going to stop you before you get any further," Amy said as she stepped in between the two. The two complimenting each other was kind of creepy, it was almost as if they were flirting with themselves. "But even if we can call this guy the Doctor, what are we supposed to call you, Doctor?"

The Doctor looked lost at that question. He obviously hadn't considered many names besides 'the Doctor.'

"...Smith?" he suggested weakly.

"Why not just call him Bow Tie Doctor?" Rory suggested. Amy put a finger to her lips and thought over the suggestion while looking over the Doctor.

"We could call him Bow Tie for short," she said.

"Yes!" the Doctor said cheerily. "That's quirky; I like it!"

"Okay then," Amy said firmly, then pointed to the Doctor in the brown suit. "Doctor." She then pointed to the other Doctor. "Bow Tie Doctor. Now, the real question is, why are you two stuck sharing a TARDIS?"

"That's a good question, Amy!" Bow Tie Doctor said cheerily as he clapped his hands and jumped forward. "And while we're on the topic of good questions, might I ask where Rose is?"

"She's gone," the Doctor said coldly. "You should know that."

"Right, sorry," Bow Tie Doctor frowned and clasped his hands together. "Martha?"

"Gone."

"Of course. How about Donna?"

The Doctor let out a long sigh. "Mind wipe."

There was a silence as Bow Tie Doctor considered the Doctor, then he finally grinned and clapped his hands again.

"Right," he said, almost cheerily. "Glad we got that sorted out. Just trying to figure out when in my time line this happened. So everyone's gone, we're all alone, and for some reason, I don't remember this happening to us. Now, can anybody answer me what might make a time lord forget about time?"

"I really shouldn't be here," the Seeker interrupted, heading for the door. The others looked at him confusedly, having not been a part of his conversation with Al. When the Seeker was a foot away from the door, he paused and looked back at Bow Tie Doctor. "Oh, and a time lord would easily forget an event if they erased it themselves."

"But how would I erase it myself?"

"Easy, don't you know that you pick which memories you keep whenever you regenerate?"

Both Doctors looked surprised, then both filed that tidbit away for future reference.

"But why forget this moment in particular?" Bow Tie Doctor pressed.

"Beats me," the Seeker said with a shrug. "Maybe there was something about it you didn't want to remember."

"Who's he?" the Doctor said, pointing to the Seeker.

"I already said, I'm the Seeker, or were you not paying attention?"

The air got very thick while the Doctor and Seeker stared at one another. Nobody else seemed willing to break the tension.

"How did you escape?" the Doctor finally growled out. He half-lunged for the Seeker, but the Bow Tie Doctor put a hand on his shoulder. The Doctor turned to look at his older counterpart. "How can you trust him? He's one of them!"

"I know," Bow Tie Doctor said. "But—"

"How did you escape the time lock?"

"Same way you did, so how did _you_ escape?" the Seeker said with a roll of his eyes. "I didn't _escape_, I was never on Gallifrey when you did the time lock."

"So he _is_ a time lord!" Amy said triumphantly. No one paid attention.

"Impossible," the Doctor ground out. "All the time lords were on Gallifrey when I did the time lock. I double checked. I... I quadruple checked!"

"But I wasn't a time lord when you checked," the Seeker said. The Doctor's eyes got wide. "Seriously, Doc, I thought I was someone you wouldn't try to lock away in a bubble with a bunch of idiotic jerks. Remember all those times we used to play together as kids?"

"Times change," the Doctor growled.

"No kidding," the Seeker said with a snort. And with that, he turned on his heel and left the TARDIS. There was a moment of utter silence before pandemonium broke out.

"Doctor, you lied, you said there weren't any time lords left," Amy growled out. Bow Tie Doctor looked over at the Doctor.

"Why, Doctor, why would you lie to a poor helpless girl like that?" he said in surprise. The Doctor ignored him and focused his attention on the bickering Ed and Al.

"You know what I mean," Amy said, closing her eyes and shaking her hand. "You. You lied to me, you with your dorky bow tie."

"Bow ties are cool!"

"No, they're not, you just say they are."

Meanwhile, the Doctor had stormed over to Ed and Al.

"You," he said, walking straight up to Al. "The Seeker acted like he knew you, how do you know him?"

Al sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Even if I were to tell you, would it make you calm down at all?" The Doctor opened his mouth, then closed it again. "That's what I thought," Al sighed.

He seemed to take a moment to think, then glanced at the Doctor and ran out of the TARDIS after the Seeker before anyone could chase after him.

* * *

Outside the TARDIS, the Seeker took a deep breath and leaned his head against the blue wood, his fists clenched tightly. If he had known when he had gotten the message from the Doctor that giving the guy a ride would end up taking him to 1914 Amestris, he would have just ignored the message and pretended he had never gotten it. He shook his head. The damage was done. The best he could do now was go back to his own TARDIS and have a nice strong brandy.

Even though brandy was usually strong enough to get him drunk _very_ quickly, but hey, if he was drunk, he couldn't really spend much effort thinking, now could he? He turned with a sigh and started walking back towards where he had parked his TARDIS.

When Al walked out of the TARDIS, he could see the Seeker not more than twelve feet away. He seemed to be preoccupied with his thoughts, so Al started creeping along behind, as silently as possible. Which was strangely almost completely silent, considering that he was a big, clanking suit of armor. He didn't even make any noise from breathing, since he didn't have to breathe.

Nevertheless, the Seeker still stopped and let out a long sigh.

"Al," he groaned. "I know you're there. Stop sneaking around and come talk to me like a normal person."

Al paused, caught off guard. He wasn't used to anyone other than Ed knowing and predicting his moves that well. But, if he was caught, he was caught. Might as well just deal with it. He shook his head and walked up to the Seeker, who waited patiently for him.

"How do you do that?" Al asked as they started walking together.

"Do what?"

"Always know exactly what I'm doing."

The Seeker let out a bark of a laugh, and then tapped at his head. "Riding in a TARDIS makes you telepathic."

"Not _that_ telepathic."

"No, but I don't need the rest," the Seeker said, and then looked up at Al with a sad smile. "The other 90% comes from knowing you so well."

Al stopped walking and looked at the Seeker. "How can you know me so well if we never talk in the future?"

The Seeker stared back steadily at Al, then sighed and shook his head. "Why don't you come see for yourself?" He then gestured towards a tree in front of them.

Al looked over at the tree, then back at the Seeker, then back at the tree, then back to the Seeker again.

"It's a tree."

"Brilliant deduction, Watson," the Seeker said with a roll of his eyes. "And no, it's not. The proper thing to say here would be 'It _looks_ like a tree.' I actually believe in fixing Chameleon circuits when...no, _if _they get broken." Al looked back over at the tree with new eyes.

"You mean, that's a TARDIS?"

"No, that's _my_ TARDIS." the Seeker corrected with a smirk. Al positively glowed.

"Well, I'd love to see it, but... but... wouldn't that create some sort of paradox or something?" Al babbled. "I mean, I'd be thrilled to see the inside of your TARDIS, but I don't really want to rip a hole in the fabric of time and space in order to do it. I mean, just seeing that it's... _there_, and... _okay_ feels pretty good as it is..."

The Seeker shook his head. "Why don't you let the time lord worry about holes in time and space, and you just enjoy yourself, while you have the chance?"

"Really?"

"Really." The Seeker then looked over at the TARDIS, and a hidden door swung open, as if it had just decided to open itself. The Seeker grinned at Al before walking in through the open door. Al hesitated, slightly unsure, slightly excited, and then finally decided and stepped inside behind the time lord.

Once Al was inside, the doors slammed shut, and the TARDIS started to disappear.

**-sighs- Al, what have you gotten yourself into this time, huh? Well, _I_ know, of course, but gee whiz, Al, leaving the readers on a cliffhanger like that! That wasn't very nice, you know. You should apologize for that inconsiderateness. Now that it's on a cliffhanger, I'll simply _have_ to get the next chapter out quickly, or the readers will want to kill me!**

**Anyway, sorry for the short chapter, hopefully the next one's longer. My kitten says he promises to yowl at me until I finish writing. How's that for motivation? **

**And by the way, I ended up deciding on donating money to Children in Need, the same thing that Doctor Who makes specials for, like Time Crash. They're working hard at helping kids with all sorts of disabilities have good opportunities in life, which I totally love. :) If you guys are interested, go ahead and check them out like I did. Every review from you guys will be ten cents to them. Converted into British currency, as Agent000 pointed out. :P**


End file.
